The Deeper Meaning Behind Body Art

If you are living in the 21st century and you’re at all involved or at least up to speed with the latest trends, you simply cannot – by all rules of nature and life – avoid mentioning hipsters and their habitual sleeve-tattooing. It’s impossible. But that’s okay. We won’t be focusing on THAT aspect too much.

It’s not all so bad

Although the currently beaming hipster culture has got us all confused, we have to admit that – if it weren’t for the “unusual kids” with their long beards and often sleeve tattoos, there would still be too many massively tattoo-prejudiced people walking the streets. Obviously, the older generations linked any form of body art with either working in prison or being in prison, while the new kids know better. To them, tattoos (i.e. body art) are a form of self-expression, the soul’s song, the meaning behind the life they lead.

So what if those tattoos are for everyone to see? They are beautiful in all of their ink.

Tattoos are emotions, memories and everything in between

Without complicating things too much, we can safely say there are two groups of tattoo lovers: those who do them for show/trend and those who appreciate the significance behind every single ink-and-needle sting.

Getting tattooed is pretty much a psychological game; the pain, the meaning, the significance, the memories attached to the symbol/photo… everything’s at play. Once the desired thought and emotion see themselves drawn and inked deep in the skin they become an entity on their own – a meaningful whole known only to the person that’s getting tattooed (and whoever this person decides to share the tattoo’s meaning with later on).

The most common reasons that inspire people to get tattoos are crucial events in their lives, moments after which they alone have changed due to the fortunate or unfortunate circumstances that had come upon them. So, it isn’t unusual to spot tattoos of dates, faces/portraits, (significant) symbols and other embellishments that stimulate, remind and – sort of – protect people from everything they feel is hurting them all while motivating them to live a life as happily as possible. There’s an entire philosophy behind getting tattooed but unless you feel it, you cannot even begin to understand it.

Right artists inject life to your ink

Deciding to get your skin inked isn’t a banal step, especially if it’s done with meaning behind it. Whoever’s deciding to go ahead with getting a tattoo should be aware of what they’re getting themselves into. The right tattoo done by the wrong person will not only potentially lose its initial meaning but it’ll also scar you with a piece of coloring that doesn’t even fit your intended visual. For people that are exceptionally artistic and find visual stimuli important, this predicament of a failed tattoo may just be a very hard circumstance to process.

To prevent this from happening, make sure you do your research well before booking your appointment. Do remember though that the expansion of tattoo-trend led to the opening of plenty tattoo parlors that aren’t as good as they advertise themselves to be. To have any of the beautifully complex realism tattoos inked on your skin (and not get disappointed), we’d always suggest trusting recommendations. Seeing is believing and once you make sure that the style, quality and the artist themselves suits all your standards, you are good to go.

It feels only appropriate to reflect on Jack London’s thought, quoting “Show me a man with a tattoo and I’ll show you a man with an interesting past”. Indeed.